Foca

Sister cities

• Nikšić

History

The first written traces of the name Foča date back to 1336. The town was known as Hotča or Hoča during medieval times. It was then known as a trading centre on route between Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) and Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). Alongside the rest of Gornje Podrinje, Foča was part of the Serbian Empire until 1376, when it was attached to the Kingdom of Bosnia under King Tvrtko, king of Serbs, Bosnia, Coastal Lands and Zachlumia. After Tvrtko's death, the town was ruled by the dukes of Zachlumia, most notably was Herzog Šćepan. Foča was the seat of the Ottoman Sanjak of Herzegovina established in 1470, and served as such until 1572, when the seat was moved to Pljevlja. In 1941, the Ustaše killed the leading Serbs in Foča. Between December 1941 and January 1942 over two thousand Bosnian Muslim civilians were killed in Foča by the Chetniks as act of vengeance for repression over Serbs by Muslim soldiers in the ranks of the Ustaše. When the German and Italian Zones of Influence were revised on 24 June 1942, Foča fell in , administered civilly by Croatia and militarily by Croatia and Germany. Chetniks attacked Ustaše and in Foča in August 1942. On 13 February 1943, Pavle Đurišić reported to Draža Mihailović the actions undertaken by the Chetniks in the Foča, Pljevlja, and Čajniče districts: "All Muslim villages in the three mentioned districts were totally burned so that not a single home remained in one piece. All property was destroyed except cattle, corn, and senna." In the operation Chetnik losses "were 22 dead, of which 2 through accidents, and 32 wounded. Among the Muslims, around 1,200 fighters and up to couple of thousands of civilian victims of both nationalitys." Thirteen mosques including the Aladža Mosque were destroyed and the 22,500 Bosniaks…

Most-observed species

• praying mantis

  Mantis religiosa (Linne, 1758) · Insecta
  9
• Marmorated brown stink bug, Yellow-brown stink bug

  Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855) · Insecta
  7
• Elephant Hawk-moth

  Deilephila elpenor Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  5
• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5
• Great Cormorant/European Shag

  Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  5
• The Druid

  Aedia funesta Esper · Insecta
  5
• Pale Shoulder

  Acontia lucida Hufnagel, 1766 · Insecta
  4

Most recent

• M 3.7 — 2025-10-02
  9 km SSW of Turbe, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• M 4.1 — 2024-09-22
  8 km ESE of Maslovare, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• M 2.8 — 2024-01-21
  2 km SSE of Solina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• M 4.7 — 2023-12-30
  9 km S of Željezno Polje, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• M 4.5 — 2023-05-19
  5 km E of Srebrenik, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• M 3.3 — 2022-06-24
  2 km SE of Omarska, Bosnia and Herzegovina